Oospila pallidaria ( Schaus, 1897 )

Lindt, Aare, Hausmann, Axel & Viidalepp, Jaan, 2018, Review of some species groups of the genus Oospila Warren, with descriptions of nine new species (Lepidoptera: Geometridae: Geometrinae), Zootaxa 4497 (2), pp. 151-194 : 158

Oospila pallidaria ( Schaus, 1897)

(Figs 6, 7, 42, 44)

Comostola pallidaria Schaus, 1897: 161 ; Leptolopha pallidaria (Schaus) : Prout 1912: 129; 1932: 52, pl. 6g; Oospila pallidaria (Schaus) : Cook & Scoble 1995: 11, Figs 5, 81, 150; the type specimen is figured on USNM website: http://n 2t.net/ark:/ 65665/344f8d2bb-dcde-4f15-b6ad-5bb04ec0a836 (visited 18.6.2018). BOLD Taxonomy homepage: http:// www.boldsystems.org/ (visited 01.02.2018).

Material. 1♂, Paraguay, Maldonado, San Francisco (Piriapolis), (A. Carmenes) (slide 7259) . 3♂ 1♀, S. Brazil, Santa Caterina , 7km SW of Imbituba, 0 2.09.2009 (G. Wheeler, F. McKay, ZSM) (slide ZSM G 19519; DNA barcode BC ZSM Lep 75091, 75092) ; 1♂ 1♀, Brazil, Rio Grande do Sul, RS143, 0 8.2014 (G. Wheeler, F. McKay, ZSM) ( DNA barcode BC ZSM Lep 87372, 92053) ; 7♂ 1♀, Brazil, reared lab culture from Rio Grande do Sul / Santa Caterina , 10.2009 (G. Wheeler, F. McKay, ZSM) ; 2♂ 1♀, Brazil, Rio Grande do Sul, Morro Reuter, Faz. Padre Eterno , 550m, 0 9.01.2007 / 0 6.10.2007 / 25.10.2005 (A. Moser, ZSM) (slide ZSM G 19513; DNA barcode BC ZSM Lep 17126, 78560) ; 1♂, Brazil, Rio Grande do Sul, Morro Redondo (Pelotas), Serra d. Buena , 150m, 20.01.2005 (E. Silva, A. Moser, ZSM) ; 1♂, Brazil, Santa Caterina, Urubici , 950m, 28.– 30.12.2002 (A. Moser, ZSM) ; 1♂, Brazil, Espirito Santo, Dorf Tirol , 10.05.– 10.06.1997 (H. Thöny, ZSM) ; 1♀, Brazil, Goias, Rte. Vianopolis /Orizona, Pte. Fonda, km 14, 1000m, 0 1.11.1981 (D. Bertrand, ZSM / Herbulot) ( DNA barcode BC ZSM Lep 69635).

Diagnosis. Dorsal tufts on thorax and abdomen fused to a conspicuous line which is white in O. agneteforslundae sp. n. and O. pallidaria boliviensis , ssp. n. but distally brownish in Brazilian specimens of O. p. pallidaria . Wings pale greenish, densely mottled with green, with tiny dark discal spots on wings and without fore wing dark apical spots. Wings are plain coloured in the other species that have a yellow marginal line. Male genitalia have the tegumen much shorter than the vinculum, while the tegumen is as long as the vinculum in other plain green Oospila taxa.

Description. Wingspan ♂ 18–20 mm (Fig. 6), ♀ 21–23 mm, females always larger than males. Wings light green with dense whitish irroration, thin yellow marginal line and greenish yellow fringe; no dark spots on apex; discal spots blackish on both wings; fore wing costa broadly lined yellow. Sternite A8 is weakly sclerotized.

Male genitalia (Fig. 44): The uncus is reduced and the socii are small. The valva is split, its costal part bearing a dorso-distal process, a subapical and curved harpe, the sacculus projecting a medial finger-shaped process. The aedeagus is as long as the genital capsule, with a stout cornutus distally.

Female genitalia: Short, with the antrum sclerotized funnel-shaped, the sterigma and signum not sclerotized ( Cook & Scoble, 1995: 11, Fig. 150).

Genetic data. BIN: BOLD:ACJ6908 (n=7 from Brazil). Within the genus clustering far from any other species of the pallidaria group. Nearest congeneric neighbour: O. pipa sp. n. (9.8%).

Distribution. Brazil (locus typicus: Prov. Parana: Castro), Paraguay, Bolivia.

Biology. Adults have been collected from August to October, in December, January, May and June. The species inhabits the savannah biome (cerrado). Larvae have been found (and reared to adult) on Schinus terebinthifolius (G. Wheeler pers. comm.) and Mimosa ( Sousa-Lopes et al. 2016) .